2016 Cadillac ELR Arrives With Extra Power And A Price Drop

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The Cadillac ELR has been a bit of a mystery lately. Some time back, Cadillac announced a refresh of the car, but quickly retracted remarks on the idea of a refresh. The car had been missing action since, even skipping the past few major auto shows. But today, Cadillac has finally introduced a much-overdue refresh of the plug-in hybrid coupe. The biggest news about the 2016 Cadillac ELR is more power and a lower base price.

We’ll tackle the power aspect first. Software upgrades to the 2016 ELR’s battery system improve power and torque by 25 percent, while shaving a substantial 1.5 seconds from the car’s 0-60 time. The software upgrade also allows for a higher top speed and quicker acceleration. This is made possible through a new Sport mode, which enables the propulsion system to use power from the 1.4-liter four-cylinder engine and electric system. From a numbers standpoint, the 2016 Cadillac ELR has 373 pound-feet of instant torque at its disposal.

Altogether, the 2016 ELR’s range is 330 miles, made up of a combination of electric and range-extended power. Pure electric mileage will last an estimated 39 miles before the 1.4-liter fires up for assistance. We’ll assume that the 39 mile mark is for drivers with a featherweight foot.

Even so, the newfound power comes with a fairly substantial lower price tag. Cadillac has announced that the 2016 ELR will start at $58,495 after Federal U.S. tax credits. The 2014 model, by comparison, rung in at $67,500 after the tax credits. With some basic math, we can see that the 2016 ELR has a starting price of $65,995, which is a steep cut in MSRP of about $9,000.

There are plenty of other bits new to the 2016 Cadillac ELR as well that make it a much more compelling package than before. In particular, the steering and suspension have been improved. The updates include:

Revised calibration of the HiPer Strut front suspension

Increased front spring rates and a stiffer rear axle

Stiffer bushings for the front lower control arms, cradle mounts and Watts link in the rear suspension, for more precise control with no loss of ride quality

Revised calibrations for the Continuous Damping Control system

Front Damper Rebound Spring added

New steering calibration tuned to complement the revised chassis and suspension systems

Revised brake hardware and system calibration for improved application feel

But, there’s more: the 2016 Cadillac ELR will also offer an optional performance package, which will apply a host of performance parts to compliment the newfound chassis and steering feel with a more direct and linear feel. 20-inch summer performance tires increase lateral grip by 10 percent, front Brembo four-piston brake calipers improve 60-0 stopping distance by 12 percent and specific calibrations for the Continuous Damping Control and electric power steering systems enhance the car’s overall performance.

It seems as if Cadillac is going to try once again to garner more 2016 ELR sales before the vehicle is replaced with a new model, per Cadillac President, Johan de Nysschen. Cadillac has also stated new plug-in vehicles will eventually become available, but a two-door ELR may not be among them. For now, the bevy of new upgrades and a lower price price of the 2016 ELR should begin to attract a few potential buyers into dealerships to bring the PHEV home with them. And that’s a good thing.

2016 Cadillac ELR

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— Sean Szymkowski

Sean is a lead staff writer for GM Authority. The words above are fueled by passion and large amounts of caffeine. Find him on Instagram: @helloimseann

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22 Comments

While I’m still not exactly sure what to make of Johan & his NYC crew overall, this shows they at least can acknowledge reality in this particular instance. Credit to them. ELR was vastly overpriced to start and now (along with the other improvements) it *might* sell so-so numbers, instead of dreadful numbers.

Caddy still has a long way to go in the electric/alternative fuel market with BMW and Tesla bringing out new product, but this will take them a couple of steps.

Good follow up compared to the equipment on the model originally introduced. They should have started with this. Hard to recover from the initial market and public perception.
They need to go further though . Take the performance to V-SPort levels.
There is room to make the straight line and handling match it’s awesome looks.

Personally, I think they should have taken the same approach BMW did with the i8. Front wheels powered by the electric motor and rear by a small engine (2.0 turbo?). Bring HP to 350-400 and torque to 400. AWD with quicker speed and MRC would have made this a segment leader. It already has the luxury and tech that you expect, just not the right powertrain.

Well, there seems to be some confusion on the horsepower rating for the new ELR, that’s because Cadillac only discussed the electric drive power rating in KW rather than HP.

So, let’s clear things up. You will get two different KW ratings based on whether you are in tour mode or sport mode. In tour mode, you get electric power only rated at 160KW. That, on your KW to HP calculator will give you 215HP — about the same horsepower rating that you got in the 2014 ELR. Thus, you should get a 0-60 in the same range as the original of about 7.9 seconds.

In sport mode, the eletric motor gets 174KW or 233 HP. But — WAIT — there’s more! In sport mode, the ELR gets the gas engine cranked up to boost you even further. Cadillac’s press release says that total system power is 233 KW. Get out your trusty kw to HP calculator, and — vadavoom! — you get 312HP. Plus you get that instant-on 373 lb-ft of torque. And voila! You get 0-60 in 6.4 seconds, add the performance package, and you get a top speed of 130MPH.

Didn’t Johan say he was going to slash the number of dealerships? And then backtracked.

He also said he was going to maintain premium pricing. And now he’s backtracking on that.

Would you bet $12B on this brand and this guy? He already said EVs are for idiots.

This guy + this brand? Only GM hubris keeps both of them going. Without the Escalade, they got nothin. Sad.

Uwe the CMO will be his human shield, now that Johan’s changed agencies twice so far, and sales managers, and the head of Cadvertising that gave us
‘Nest-ce pas?’ and the omnisexual Cleopatra for Escalade. Even the SRX isn’t selling.

Buick is eating what? Buick doesn’t compete with Cadillac or Chevrolet. Buicks don’t command Cadillac’s prices, and Buick doesn’t have Chevy’s sales figures. I think you are living in your imagination.

I don’t know man, I think there’s a pretty strong case to be made for the comment. While mainstream companies like Ford, Kia and others push forward and higher, their image continues to strengthen and products become more desirable. More Buick-like if you will with options, features and design language. Chevrolet is seen as a low rent company/brand compared to other mainstream companies/brands as a result of not being able to push forward and higher. And Cadillac has a problem of not being able to drop pricing a bit as well as soften up their styling and offer classic Cadillac luxury. All simply to let Buick breathe. As a result, Cadillac comes off as hard and sterile to me.

If I were looking at Chevrolet cars or trucks, I’d just leave and go to the Buick-GMC dealership instead and get nicer versions for roughly the same money. If I were looking at Cadillac’s, I’d just go to the Buick-GMC dealership and get better looking versions for slightly less money.

Whatever! Look, I am a fan of all GM vehicles. I think GM currently has its strongest line-up in my nearly 46 years on the planet earth. I root for them all. Its so good that no matter which segment you are shopping in, you can’t go wrong.

Even for all the shortcomings with the 2015 Chevy Malibu, you can’t beat it in initial quality or long term dependability according to JD Power. So, you won’t get extravagant styling or the sportiest drive, but you have a lot of quality there.

Other than the segments it doesn’t play in, GM is rocking it. But there are facts here. Buick is a mid-tiered brand. And it does that exceptionally well. Maybe in China it could move up market and do well. In fact, you could probably slap Buick badges on the ATS and CTS in China and they’d sell like potato chips in Colorado (think that one through folks). But that wouldn’t be the case anywhere else.

As for the comment that Chevy is seen as low rent, I don’t think so. The new Impala is anything but, and is seeing its ATPs soar, for example. Now there is some truth to Odin’s comment below. If I were cross-shopping a Buick Regal GS with a base Cadillac ATS, I might seriously consider the Regal GS. It is, in fact, a prety car, and the reviews for it are glowing. But if I were spending above the base ATS, say around $45-50 grand, I wouldn’t even think of the Regal. The ATS wins all the way. And if I were spending $35K, I would strongly consider the Impala over the Regal.

I think Buick has a great mid-tiered line-up. But I think Chevy has a great mainstream line-up. I think Cadillac has a great luxury line-up. I am not much for trucks, but if I wante a premium truck, I couldn’t imagine getting anything other than GMC.

I like all of GM’s vehicles. Right now, any segment, pick a GM car, and you have a very competitive vehicle. And if I were in the economy segment, I could even imagine buying a Spark and being happy. But I also try to keep it real. Buick has some nice cars and they are excellent for the field they play on. But they aren’t as luxurious as Cadilac and don’t have the mainstream value of Chevy. They are right smack in the middle of those two, and there is nothing wrong with that. That is GM’s gameplan anyway.

Vette-Camaro aside, chevy’s are cheap, ugly, low rent, you can’t even get awd and have poor resale. Their trucks are ugly and low rent second tier crap compared to GMC. cadillac can’t touch Buick design and the Denali trim is much classier than the ghetto escalade. Buick-GMC is everything chevrolet-cadillac wishes they could be.

? Robert, You can get Buick’s for darn near the same money as a Chevrolet. I’ve seen some cheaper option depending. With Buick though you get better interior quality, better exterior design and a host of extra goodies over the Chevrolet. You then have better resale value when it’s time for a new ride so an extra few bucks up front if you had to pay it is really a wash. Look at the new compact cuv’s like the Encore and Trax. Buick’s trounces all over Chevrolet’s and sales show it. They’re just plain nicer inside and out. Chevrolet’s is destined for rental lots. Sorry, this multi tiered approach to selling cars may have worked 50 years ago but these days nobody cares. Either the car is a killer or it’s not. There is no in between. JD Power means nada. Big deal if the Malibu is reliable, so is the Buick. But with the Buick, you get all of the goods. Malibu is a clunker by comparison.

As for Cadillac, it’s a waste. Give the Escalade name to Buick or GMC and run it as a higher Denali trim. Cadillac is beyond revival. The Buick designs are far nicer.

Seriously? First off, styling (and brand perception) is subjective. Not everyone is looking for the same thing in a car, and the great thing about being a GM fan is that they have multiple brands and aren’t forced to have the one-size-fits-all approach that some other automakers are limited to.

Secondly, I am shopping for a new car and have been comparing the Impala and Lacrosse. The only two things that I really want are a V6 and sunroof. The Impala 2LT with sunroof and required convenience package stickers at just over $33k. The Lacrosse requires the addition of the leather package which pushes the price over $37k (both cars currently have approx. $2000 in rebates). In addition to new, I’ve also been checking into certified used, and there is no evidence that the Buick has better resale –if anything I’ve noticed the opposite. What stats do you have to back up your claim?

Encore vs. Trax? Of course the Encore is selling better, it has been on the market for a few years. Dealers don’t yet have enough inventory of the Trax to support the market, and advertising has just begun to get the word out that it exists to those that don’t follow the industry.

It may not be a big deal to you if the Malibu is reliable, but it is to everyone else buying a car. My definition of reliable is the opposite of what a clunker is, not sure what you think that means?

The 2+ million people that bout a Chevy last year, or the nearly 4 million facebook fans would strongly disagree with you. Don’t get me wrong, I have positive feelings for Buick (ever since the Riviera was my favorite car as a kid), but it will never have the mass market appeal of Chevy. Oldsmobile and Pontiac both died for different reasons, but GM was dead wrong in assuming their owners would be interested in the other brands. Sadly most left for Ford or imports.

Really Wait!? Oh the rumblings of the uninformed. Johan whether you like him or not is the real deal. First off, cutting the number of dealerships isn’t an overnight thing. It takes planning and strategy and agreement, you can’t just take peoples stores. He hasn’t backtracked off of that. Secondly, many leaders in all areas make statements before a full assessment is made of what they are dealing with and then reality sets in. He agreed the pricing was too high on some models. That wasn’t his doing, he walked into that but it is his responsibility to address. Next up, EV’s, the truth very few want to face is that the better “green technology” is clean diesel. The pollution created by the production of EV batteries alone eclipses by far any perceived benefit. So that’s where his position is firmly rooted. People will buy for example a 7 Series hybrid to be “green” while the Audi A8 with it’s old 4.2L V8 got better gas mileage than it as well as the S Class hybrid and Lexus LS hybrid. Next up, “without the Escalade they got nothin” Really? The ATS has been touted as a better driving car than the long time segment leader 3 series. The CTS was car of the year first year out with the all new design from the ground up. It to is an amazing car bettering it’s competition in most categories. Last, “Even the SRX isn’t selling” where are you getting your information? Seriously, it’s one of Caddy’s top sellers. That ad you mentioned was pre Johan. #DareGreatly is all Johan in the sense of this was under his direction. Cadillac has two issues to overcome. 1) Brand image, most people (in the US) think of Cadillac as their parents and or grand parents car and it is no longer anywhere near that brand anymore. Secondly, too few offerings in the luxury segment. Mercedes has roughly 19 different offerings as does BMW and Audi close behind them both not counting sub models such as performance variants. Cadillac has 7. This is reality and fact not just someones over the top baseless opinions. It also explains the changes in marketing personnel and ad agencies. If it’s not working then fix or change it.

Should have started out that way. Even then it problems would not have been a real big seller even then but surely would have done better than the existing one. Now you have a vehicle with a damaged image and unhappy existing owners. Need to compensate them in some way.

EvDave
Not speaking of monetary compensation. Perhaps something like extended courtesy service,free tire rotation and front end alignment. Things like that to keep them happy and hopefully returning customers. Someone who spends $76,000 on a vehicle and finds that the new version is a better vehicle and is $10,00 less is bound to be a little upset. That is my opinion and reasoning. Are you saying they should do nothing to appease those customers and hopefully have them as repeat customers